Andy Burnham rules out paying compensation to Waspi women

Andy Burnham has ruled out paying compensation to the “Waspi women” who claim they lost out owing to changes to the state pension age – but said he was open to the idea of giving them other benefits.

Burnham had previously indicated he backed compensating as many as 3.6 million women born in the 1950s, some of whom claim they lost thousands of pounds because they were ill-informed about the changes.

But on Thursday, after a backlash over the billions a compensation scheme would cost, a spokeswoman for the Greater Manchester mayor said he had intended to look at other offers such as subsidised transport.

Ministers said last year they would not give any compensation to the women affected, despite a ruling by the parliamentary and health service ombudsman in March 2024 that they should be compensated.

Burnham was reported to have told a Makerfield byelection hustings event on Wednesday he would “stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness”.

However, a spokeswoman for the Labour leadership hopeful told the Financial Times that Burnham considered the compensation case closed but believed there might be other gestures to help the generation that was affected.

“He accepts the final decision has been made in relation to financial compensation but has indicated an openness to considering similar schemes on the Greater Manchester model,” the spokesperson said on Thursday, adding that he had “supported Waspi women in the city-region with early access to concessionary travel, providing some recompense to them within affordability limits”.

Waspi women hold a protest at the Scottish Labour party conference in Glasgow last year. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

The government has said any flat-rate compensation scheme paid out to all women born in the 1950s would cost up to £10.3bn and “would simply not be right or fair” given most women said they were aware of the changes.

But campaigners said they were left with unaffordable retirement plans after the coalition government sped up the pension age increase from 60 to 65 and then to 66.